All My Memories
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Five years ago, during our 90th season, the WSO was set to perform a concert centered around Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. At the end of the rehearsal, we experienced something unprecedented: our Board President and Executive Director approached the stage and told us that we would need to cancel the concert out of concern for the unfolding health situation taking place around the country. What followed was a period of uncertainty and fear, the likes of which none of us had encountered in our lifetime. Along with the traumas, however, came a stronger sense of community for us all.
With half a decade having passed, we felt that now was the time for us to collectively reflect on that period. What things were good, what things were bad, and what changes have we experienced? We will do this in conversation with the community during our Festival of Ideas that accompanies this concert period, and we will do this through our music.
During the performance, we will revisit another “memory,” as the phenomenal young pianist Maxim Lando returns to Wheeling for Prokofiev’s second concerto. Maxim joined us to close our first season back from COVID, and we feel lucky to be able to welcome him back to the Capitol.
Single tickets go on sale June 27 at 10 am. Subscriptions go on sale May 15.
For more information, contact the Wheeling Symphony Box Office at 304-232-6191 or boxoffice@wheelingsymphony.com.
Featuring
Maxim Lando, piano
21-year old American pianist Maxim Lando has been described as a “dazzling fire-eater” (ARTS San Francisco) and as “a total musical being” (The New Criterion). He was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times as displaying “brilliance and infectious exuberance” combined with “impressive delicacy” and a “wildeyed danger.” Maxim first made international headlines performing together with Lang Lang, Chick Corea, and The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall’s 2017 Opening Night Gala. Since then, he has performed with major orchestras around the world including Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, and many others. A recipient of the Gilmore Young Artist Award and named Musical America‘s New Artist of the Month, Maxim was also awarded the 2022 Vendome Grand Prize. That same year, he won First Prize in the New York Franz Liszt International Competition and returned to Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium to perform with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Gabor Hollerung. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut with the Juilliard Orchestra led by Xian Zhang as a winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition in 2021. Maxim’s burgeoning career was fully launched after winning First Prize at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions at the age of 16. His following sold-out recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater included Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes and were hailed by the New York Times as a concert “You Won’t Want To Miss!” A frequent Guest Artist on the music festival scene, recent appearances have included The Gilmore, Aspen, Caramoor, Dresden Music Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Stars and Rising Stars Munich, Musical Olympus International Festival in Russia, Vilnius Piano Festival, Gower Festival in Wales, and Lednice-Valtice Music Festival in Czech Republic. Recital highlights include performances at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Carnegie Hall Presents, Symphony Hall in Shenzhen, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Lied Center of Kansas, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, and GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music. He was invited by Lang Lang to perform for the historic opening of Steinway and Sons in Beijing and performed Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto for an outdoor audience of 50,000 people in Madison, Wisconsin. Dedicated to making classical music accessible to his own generation, Maxim has been featured on CNN’s Best of Quest, NPR, BBC Radio, WQXR, Bavarian Radio, Israel’s “Intermezzo with Arik”, and Russia’s TV Kultura. Maxim is an alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and has been the Laureate of the Artemisia Foundation since 2019. He studies with long-time mentor Hung-Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School.
John Devlin, Conductor
Conductor John Gennaro Devlin, is an ardent champion of American music, an innovator of concert design, and a thought leader in the field of classical music. In his seventh season as Music Director of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Devlin is only the ninth conductor in its 90-year history to hold that title. He was recently named a recipient of the 2023 Georg Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award. Devlin’s artistry and versatility make him a frequent guest conductor with major orchestras across the nation. His engagements include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and the American Repertory Ballet. Of his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra and violin soloist Joshua Bell, Anne Midgette of The Washington Post wrote that Devlin “led the evening with flair … and was visibly in his element.” A strong advocate for American music, Devlin has made it a programmatic focus and has premiered over 40 new American works. Committed to serving the wider arts community beyond the podium, Devlin is part of the six-member Conductor Constituency Leadership Team of the League of American Orchestras, advocating for conductors nationally. Previously, he served on the Conductors Guild’s Board of Directors and was a featured speaker at the organization’s annual conference, discussing the future of orchestras with the Executive Directors of the National and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. He also delivered the keynote TED talk on “Innovation in Crowded Marketplaces” at a TEDx symposium. Devlin completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in orchestral conducting under the tutelage of James Ross at the University of Maryland. His undergraduate degree is from Emory University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Clarinet Performance and Latin.
